Personally for my taste, and what I think makes a good website is humor and simplicity. Both the good websites I chose had cartoons (which represent humor) , great color schemes, and easy layouts that you can easily see the navigation, you can see what their site is about and in some way shape or form, how they are as people.

Alessandro Cavallo has a very intelligent layout. He gives you some information about himself. Has humorous aspects. Has two forms of contact describes his skill set and gives a showcase on his art, all on one page without looking a tragic mess.

Mike’s website is AWESOME 🙂 He has cartoons as well but this time they’re animated which attracts the viewer and has them stay at least 20 seconds to see the course of the animation. He has very very easy navigation. All on one page he can fit a preview of his youtube videos, a header, an introduction and video countdown. Humorous, attractive, and simple.

I’ve noticed that both good websites I chose have similar color scheme. the pink light blue white and black. Not only are they good complementary colors but they seem to be good for cartoon-ish sites. See: http://carsonified.com/projects/#matt

Now when it comes to bad websites Basil Sr. ‘s is the worst! It is completely atrocious and disorganized..I have to practically dig for the purpose of the site and who he is. He has NO navigation so EVERYTHING is one long page along with pictures and random links. The site has red text with a yellow background along with other black text. It looks crazy and the only way I’d stay on this page is if I had to do research on him…maybe not even then since Wikipedia exists lol.

I’ve always lived my life through art. A brief timeline of my life would include me beginning to dance at age 6 and continuing on for 7 more years. In middle school, what would be gym at another other school was Tae Kwon Do at ours. I also wrote songs, poetry, and performed in a talent show. One summer I was recommended to go to camp at MICA. In high school I performed in 2 choirs branched from the school; The Western High School Concert Choir and the after-school more advanced Sounds Unlimited. I also used to play the piano when I was younger. One christmas I got a piano that not only could I play on but the piano could also play songs to me. Inspired by this phenomenon, I’d dress up in the costumes I got from dancing and put on shows for whoever was home. I choreographed dances for my brother to do in the show as well. The songs I would write would sometimes be performed too. i would make my brother a back up dancer or background singer to my songs which is very hard to do seeing as I was 11 then and he’s five years younger..(don’t try that at home).

Art has always been a sole part of who I am and a great part of how I express myself. One of my favorite artists, whom I learned of just last year in AP Studio Art, is Rafal Oblinski. His work blows me away. I’d just want to take a seat in his mind and watch his thoughts roll across a movie screen while he paints. His work allows for personal perspective. In his case, oftentimes it’s hard to associate the titles he has with the actual picture. I really look up to him though, because of his ability to create poetry with his art. There always seems to be an underlying meaning within his work and that’s something I always try to do with my art. I always try and strike the emotions and minds of the people viewing my art. I want them to not only be blown away by skill, but also take something away from it. But like a great novel, there is no right or wrong answer in art. I can tell you, as the composer, what it means to me and what I was thinking when I made it but I can’t tell you what it means to you and what you should think about it. You have your own mouth for that.

Another thing I love about Rafal is that his art seems to convey a constant theme of nature, order, and vulnerability. Nature conveyed through plants, bushes, birds, etc. Order conveyed by opposites or interesting images like night and day both present in the same sky. Rafal also likes to draw nude women in his paintings which gives the picture a sense of vulnerability…kind of a portal or ‘wardrobe of Narnia’ to enter his paintings.

My next favorite artist goes by the name of Keith Haring. His art is meaningful to me because it’s carefree. To me, his art speaks “do whatever, draw whatever”. There is no reason to hold back because someone might be offended. As an artist, and as a human being SOMEONE will always be offended by what you do. It’s your job to just be you. His art reminds me that I don’t have to put myself in a box. Because in reality the box doesn’t exist. People create one for themselves when they’re afraid of the critics. I also value the simplicity of some of his drawings and paintings. His characters bodies are so simply drawn yet those groups of 3 lines or more bring his pictures to life. They create a focal point in his artwork. The lines may draw you to the impregnated belly of a girl. There are no female attributes but seeing that she’s pregnant our brains assume she is female.

The pictures that lack these lines are even more fun. Reminiscent of the wizard of oz, you follow the path of lines until the form creates a story and in result, artwork. In Harings work a person could make up any story they wanted to go along with the picture. There are no boundaries, which I can respect and admire in an artist. It gives not only freedom to the creator but also freedom to the spectators.